The Texas Outdoor Musical (A History)

By Peter Simek 5.22.19

It
opens with a moment as big and as melodramatic as one would hope for from a
musical that strives to reflect the spirit and story of Texas. A lone rider on
a cliff overlooking the amphitheater at Palo Duro Canyon State Park brandishes
a Texas flag. A horn sounds. The rider gallops off beneath the twilight sky.
And the spectacle that is the Texas Outdoor Musical begins.

For more than 50 years, people from around the world have flocked to the country’s second-largest canyon to experience the pomp and pageantry of the Texas Outdoor Musical. It takes 60 singers, dancers, and musicians, more than a dozen horses, and plenty of flags to stage the production that retells the story of the founding of Texas and celebrates the spirit and passion of the Lone Star State.

Here’s
where it all began.

A Dream for Texas

It
began with Margaret Harper, a resident who was looking for a way to attract
more tourists to Palo Duro Canyon and provide local jobs in the summer. After seeing
an article about playwright Paul Green in Reader’s Digest, Harper had an idea:
one that would accomplish her goals and also teach visitors something about the
history of the Panhandle. She and her husband approached the playwright with a
commission: Write an epic musical that celebrates the story of the canyon and
the state.

Green,
a native of North Carolina who had written an outdoor musical about his home
state, traveled to Canyon to research the area and learn its history. There was
concern that the area was too sparsely populated to support a musical of the
scale and grandeur Green was known to produce. The solution was to make the
musical a top attraction. They planned for the construction of an amphitheater
in one of the prettiest corners of Palo Duro Canyon. The result was an
acoustically tuned theatrical setting quite unlike any other in the world.

A Texas-Size
Production

Green’s
musical has become a quintessential Panhandle experience. With some help from
students and faculty from West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M
University), Green’s play debuted in 1966, telling the ultimately triumphal story
of the hardship and struggles that faced Texas’ first Anglo settlers — with
plenty of song and dance, a sprinkling of humor, and a fireworks finale.

The musical’s story begins in the 1880s, after U.S. troops have pushed the Comanche off the Panhandle and ranchers and farmers have moved in to settle. A young farmer returns to the region with dreams of helping to extend the railroad through the area. His efforts are resisted by a rancher — loosely based on Charles Goodnight — who is concerned the railroad will ruin the Panhandle for ranching.

Enter
the rancher’s attractive niece, a bad drought, illness, and fire, and the
uneasy peace of the fledgling community is threatened. Two and a half hours
later, the musical’s protagonists have found love and hope on the frontier, withstood
hardship, and forged a compromise.

Courtesy of Jim Livingston and Texas Outdoor Musical

Going Off Book

In
2003, organizers of the outdoor musical attempted to update Paul Green’s story
with a new script by Lynn Hart. Called “Texas Legacies,” the new story was an
attempt to correct some of the historical inaccuracies of the original
production. Audience members, some of whom make an annual pilgrimage to see the
musical, were not pleased, and in 2006, Texas returned to its original script.
The ordeal proved that saying of the Old West: When truth becomes legend, print
the legend.

A Tourism Boon

Today,
the show that was imagined as a way to draw more people to the Panhandle
remains a top tourist draw in the region. The Texas Outdoor Musical drew its
largest crowds back in the 1970s and 1980s, when as many as 100,000 people
would head to Palo Duro Canyon each summer.

The
show’s attendance has dropped by nearly half, yet it remains the most popular
outdoor musical history drama in the country. According to a 2009 study, that
tourism brings an estimated $17.5 million in related spending to the Panhandle.
That kind of revenue helps justify the large $2.5 million budget that comes
with putting on the show each year.

This Year’s Show

The
Texas Outdoor Musical means more to the people who help stage it and who see it
every year than simple economic impact. The controversy that surrounded the
attempt to rewrite the beloved musical underscores the way in which the story
has become essential to the local community and their sense of pride and
identity. The show also helps give local residents valuable theater experience,
and over the years, performers have gone on to star in Broadway productions.
Cast and crew rehearse for up to 12 hours a day to prepare for the 65
performances each year. The result is a spectacle unlike any theater experience
around.

How to Visit

The Texas Outdoor Musical runs Tuesdays through Sundays at 8:30 p.m. from June 1 through Aug. 17 at the Pioneer Amphitheater — the stage since the show’s inaugural year. For more information and tickets, visit Texas-Show.com.